A Journey of Meals and Muscles

Pancit (Raw Vegan)

I was introduced to pancit only a few months ago. One of my friends posted a photo of a lovely meal her mother in law had prepared, and I immediately had to know more about this fascinating dish I had never heard of. I learned it was a Filipino noodle dish and I was inspired to create a raw vegan version that I could enjoy at home.

There are many different pancit recipes, and this particular one was modeled after pancit bihon. In place of the rice noodles, I used zucchini noodles. In place of chicken, I used chopped mushrooms marinaded in vegetable juice to produce a meaty texture with a rich flavor that a vegetable stock would have provided in a cooked recipe. Other than that, for my vegetable mix, I used sliced Napa cabbage (you could also use bok choy, pending availability), carrots, onions, and peppers, which often show up in different versions of the traditional version. Instead of soy sauce (which often contains GMO soy and gluten) or tamari (which is fermented with mold), I used coconut aminos, which are raw, taste less salty, and have a rich fermented flavor. They’re a little different if you’re used to the taste of soy sauce, but still delicious.

Chop the vegetables. Make sure there are enough chopped carrots and sweet peppers to put through the juicer for the broth juice.

Put the "Vegetable Ingredients" into a large bowl and set aside.

Juice the Vegetable Broth Juice vegetables and add the pinch of salt and pepper.

Put the chopped mushrooms and the vegetable broth juice into a bowl together and let them marinade for at least an hour (overnight is better).

Add the sauce ingredients to a small bowl and whisk.

Pour the sauce over the Vegetable Ingredients and mix until everything is well coated. Let it marinade until your mushrooms are done (about 45 minutes, but again, I prefer the overnight marinade).

After the marinading is complete, strain the mushrooms out and mix into the vegetables. You are ready to eat it!

Notes

Regarding sesame oil, I have also made this with EVOO and avocado oils and both work well, though the olive oil has a much strong flavor and the avocado oil is neutral tasting for the most part.

You can substitute red, orange, or yellow bell peppers for the sweet peppers if you like.

You can substitute bok choy for the Napa cabbage.

I prefer to marinade the mushrooms and the vegetables overnight for the best flavor. If you are in a hurry, an hour will do. If you want a rich flavor and soft texture, go with the overnight soak.

For this recipe, I have tested both diluted and non-diluted vegetable juices to soak the mushrooms. I prefer the juice to be un-diluted in this case, but you can use any strength that you like the flavor of.

You can drink the vegetable juice after you extract the mushrooms or reuse it for another marinade, depending on what kind of juicer you have. If you have a masticating juicer, it should be "fresh" for about 72 hours.

If you are mold sensitive, soak your mushrooms for 15-20 minutes in a dilute mixture of water and vinegar before chopping them to kill off the mold spores.